][][][]
Thanks. It's been in the planning stages for a while, trying to find the right woods, etc, and I think I can make a few improvements, but here's what I did for this one. It started with a good photo of an instrument. I played around with the size in a photo editing program, did some cut outs on paper and taped them on to a finished pen until I had the right dimensions. For each wood, I turned a tube without the brass tube glued in to a diameter just proud of what it would be in the final pen. I had one for the background, one for the top, one for the back, and one for the fingerboard and tailpiece. I actually sent 3 of these to Ken Nelson along with the photos and a mock up with how I wanted it to look. Ken cut the pieces out with his laser, and sent back to me for a few fill-ins and gluing together and finishing. The one in the photo is actually #2. #1 didn't make it out of the shop and #3 is yet to be done. If I do another set, I will probably stabilize the spruce first to try to minimize the bleed from the glue fill and other woods. I did douse it with CA frequently, and it was okay, but not perfect. I'm toying with the idea of a more 3 dimensional design with the tailpiece, fingerboard and bridge somewhat elevated as they are on the instrument, buts that's yet another project on the long list. At some point there will be a bow-clip, but I left the clip off this one for fear of interference with the design.
]
